Lacking a bell, President John was still somehow able to call the meeting to order at 12:15 PM in the chapel of the new and beautiful Lighthouse Mission building. The business portion of this meeting was quite short; the main agenda was a tour of the building.
Guests:
Nathan Twining brought Lighthouse Mission Supporters, Bob and Kelli Sampson
President John Moffat introduced his son, Dan Moffat, from Cambridge, Mass. He was a Rotary student of the Month in Theater years ago. John also introduced Sarah Leslie, with the WWU Rotaract Club
Dick Tucker introduced Dr. Shimizu Yuichiro, a dentist and member of the Tokyo Nerima West Rotary Club
Aaron Booker brought his wife Kelli
Bill Day brought his wife Lynne
Marty Haines introduced his wife Gail
Steve Ban brought his wife Janis
Felicity Dye brought her granddaughter and former exchange student, Carla from Spain.
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Meeting Updates:
August 25th Potluck at Booker's
Monday Evening 5:30 - 8:00
(no daytime meeting Aug 25th)
2612 Park St., B'ham
Aaron & Kelly will provide pulled pork from Aaron's smoker as well as grilled chicken. Other dishes will be potluck, and drinks BYOB. If you haven't already registered, please mention the dish you will bring on the registration form so the social committee can balance the offerings. Spouses invited.
New Membership Proposals approved by the Classification Committee and the Board of Directors:
Justin Guillory, proposed by Kathi Hiyane-Brown and Ward Naf to fill the classification “Community College-President
William Joseph Garcia proposed by George Halsell and John Moffat to fill the classification “Developer-Educational Materials”. Approved 8-18-2025 by email.
They will be eligible September 1, 2025, unless a written objection is received on or before August 30th by Executive Secretary Sandra Lindhout, 2200 Vining St., Bellingham, Wash. 98229
We discussed future meeting locations’ next steps and will poll the full membership by email in the coming weeks announced to the membership on September 8th. President John feels that the club is ready to make changes.
September 29, 2025 Monday Evening meeting at Holiday Inn at the Airport with a speaker, no-host bar and buffet at 5:30.
October 27, 2025, will be a joint meeting with WWU Rotaract Club at WWU. They will have a representative invited to future board meetings.
November 18, 2025, at Hotel Bellwether 5:30 joint Meeting with other local clubs to discuss potential mergers of clubs
November 17, 2025, we will cancel meeting due to the November 18th joint meeting
November 24, 2025, will be a regular noon meeting at WCC
Steve Ban was not in attendance, but President John reported on the upcoming Hungarian Visit September 16-20 to our club. We will join us for the President’s Picnic at Tim and Leslie Farris’s Lake Whatcom home on September 16th at 5:30. There are 5 visitors coming and host homes have been secured by John Moffat, Marty Haines, Rick Kaiser, Steve Ban and Bill Day. Steve has planned activities such as airplane flights by Doug Cole, whale watching, bay tour, etc.
The next Board meeting will be on September 18, 2025
Club member Hans Erchinger-Davis, executive director of the Lighthouse Mission, began the tour of the building by reviewing the history of the Mission. This is presented in great detail on the Mission’s website. All financing for the building and the Mission’s programs is provided by private donations. https://www.thelighthousemission.org/home/
Hans described the Mission’s philosophy of treating homelessness by contrasting the prevailing “Housing First” strategy of most agencies with the Mission”s “Housing Next” program. Housing First provides homes for the homeless before dealing with the often very significant issues that led to homelessness. Once provided with a place to live, many will often not participate in treatment for their addiction and mental health issues, and will often die in their free homes. In contrast, the Mission’s Housing Next program provides a safe place to obtain treatment for problems before getting more permanent housing.
Hans then discussed the three stages of the Mission’s treatment program:
Outreach - Mission staff make regular contact with homeless people and camps, providing basic needs, like food, and building trust.
Recovery - those who respond to the outreach and come to the Mission will receive multifaceted treatment for the often deep emotional wounds that led to the homelessness.
Restoration - those who respond to treatment get assistance in rejoining society: finding jobs (including in the future coffee shop being built in the new building), reclaiming their children from CPS, and making budgets.
Hans reported that 70% of the Mission’s graduates remain clean and sober one year after leaving the mission compared with 6% in the general population.
Hans next described the purpose of each of the five floors of the building:
First floor - planned coffee and possible doughnut shops (employment opportunities for residents) and parking area
Second floor - place for new arrivals and access to all services, overnight emergency housing, replacing the prior Base Camp on Cornwall Avenue, dining room with large kitchen, and, of course, the Medical Clinic, financed by a two-year Major Project effort by our Club.
Third floor - a large chapel and meeting area, which also serves as an inclement weather shelter, and administrative offices.
Fourth floor - housing and case management for clients who are making good progress in treatment, so-called “Goers”.
Fifth floor - most of the space is devoted to housing clients who require intensive mental health treatment. Unfortunately, there are no funds available to finance this service until the $2 million mortgage on the building is paid off. There is also a small wing providing temporary shelter for homeless families; those rooms are always filled.
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
